


connections new and old

by deific



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Character Study?, Gen, Mentioned Fukunaga Shouhei - Freeform, Mentioned Haiba Lev, Mentioned Hinata Shouyou, Mentioned Inuoka Sou - Freeform, Mentioned Kozume Kenma, Mentioned Shibayama Yuuki, Mentioned Teshiro Tamahiko, Post-Time Skip, inspired by chapter 401, lots of repetitions im sorry, mentioned Yamamoto Taketora - Freeform, no plot just me thinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25239949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deific/pseuds/deific
Summary: They were like the blood in their veins. They flowed without halting. They kept the oxygen circulating, they kept the mind working. They never stop connecting.(or me manifesting from the lack of Kai Nobuyuki and Yaku Morisuke post-timeskip)
Relationships: Kai Nobuyuki & Kuroo Tetsurou & Yaku Morisuke
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	connections new and old

**Connect.**

Kuroo Tetsurou had a talent in scoping unconventional hopefuls. The first was Kozume Kenma, his childhood best friend and now the world famous kodzuken. Second was Tsukishima Kei, first year middle blocker of Karasuno and now a division 2 team player in the V-league. He had always been good at that, connecting people to volley.

The match ends with the Black Jackals winning, and he stands in the sidelines, smiling wide as the orange-haired athlete (he can’t say kid anymore can he?) makes his way towards him. 

“Yo! It’s been ages! How’s it hangin’ shorty.”

Hinata’s eyes widen in surprise as Kuroo corrects himself, “I mean, it’s been a while Hinata.”

“Kuroo-san!”

Ah, it’s good to see he hadn’t changed much.

The rooster-haired man, held a slip of paper in his hand. “Here. My card.”

_Kuroo Tetsurou (24)_

_Japan Volleyball Association_

_Sports Promotion Division_

“The first and most important lesson to teach is how fun it is to succeed at something,” Coach Nekomata had said, then, years ago.

Kuroo’s trademark shit-eating smirk comes back, “I’ve been hard at work lowering the net wherever I can.”

Because, Kuroo has a talent in scoping unconventional hopefuls, in connecting them to volleyball, in lowering the net and inspiring others.

He remembers his last official match of his high school years. Kenma had turned to him, smiling widely.

“Thank you for getting me into volleyball.”

Back then, Kuroo only stared at him speechless, but now? He smiles, “Sports create jobs. It invigorates the economy. Lots of people get involved. Get passionate about it. Get happier and healthier, and to top it all off… hardly anybody dies.”

His smile grows wider, if a little wistful, “Sports are amazing.” ‘And I can’t wait to connect more people to it,’ is left unsaid.

They were like the blood in their veins, flowing unhaltingly.

**Connect.**

Kai Nobuyuki had many trivial concerns, but he surmised that as long as he was alive, it couldn’t be that bad. He knows that there are others out there who lived worse lives with far greater problems. Maybe that’s why he chose to major in international relations. To learn how to connect with others in more than just one way.

For a long time, Kai didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do. He’d spent most of his life stuck in a limbo of just contentedness. He thought of continuing his volleyball career, but he couldn’t see himself playing volleyball for life.

“There are people who are crazy about victory,” he had said once, in passing.

But sometimes, total victory isn’t the goal. Sometimes, being better than who you were before felt far more victorious than any win.

That was initially why Yaku had said that Kai would do great in that department. Something about, “You’ve had enough experience de-escalating arguments with Kuroo and I. Why don’t you try it?” So, he did. He brought it up with his parents, got their approval, enrolled in a good university and tried it out. He had always been good at communication subjects like that. His language, history and economics grades had garnered most of his academic praise.

Now, Kai catches up with Kuroo, who had helped with the widespread increased interest in sports all over Japan. Kuroo did what he had always done best, polishing diamonds in the roughs and connecting them to a love for sports. 

Kai, on the other hand, wanted to connect more than that. He wanted to connect people, nations, ideologies and beliefs. Humans were social creatures after all, who needed each other to grow stronger and become better.

He could hear his coach’s old words, “In the end, those who do not change will not evolve.”

Kai wanted to change the world, if only a little bit a time. He checks the calendar app on his phone, it’s about a week before the volleyball Olympics is going to start. The date had been marked with a red pen by Kuroo the last time he had come over to visit. Even if Kai had left his volleyball career years ago, he still felt the phantom sting of the ball on his palm whenever he had the time to watch a match. Maybe the nostalgia was making him sentimental.

But now, that very space in the Nekoma volleyball club locker rooms belonged to someone else. A time that now only lived inside his memories or forever immortalized in candid photographs.

Nekoma’s main philosophy was to trust, to work, to connect. Kai takes the saying to heart, because this is what he was good at. Connecting.

They keep the oxygen moving, the mind working.

**Connect.**

Being the star libero of a team so proficient in receiving is a honour Yaku speaks of proudly to this day. After highschool, he already knows where he’s going. Kuroo and Kai may have decided to leave their volleyball careers behind but Yaku was going to go pro. 

He had the skills, the work ethic, the chance. In fact, by the end of his match, he had been scouted by several teams just after high school. It was a surprise to evidently no one when the brown-haired libero joined the V-League just after graduation. 

“Libero isn’t just a position made for short people.”

Receiving was the most basic volleyball technique a player had to master to ever amount to anything. Receiving was like second nature to a volleyball player. Receiving was the very foundation that kept the game going, that raised the stakes that made the match  _ interesting _ . Receiving was the ideology that kept Nekoma strong throughout the years. It was the ideology that Yaku brought with him throughout his matches, from high school until now.

“You win the match by not letting the ball drop on your court.”

Receives connected them. Connected the plays, connected the trust in each other, connected each player to one another. It kept the ball in the air, kept the game in motion, kept the audience’s eyes on it.

It’s 2021 now, a night before the volleyball Olympics set in Japan. Yaku looks at the red jersey gifted to him, it’s been months now but he’s still surprised whenever he sees it. He’ll be playing libero for the national team.He’d be representing Japan. He’d be going against more people who had been through different things to get to where they are now.

His phone rings with a flurry of text messages, no doubt from Kuroo or Kai. Maybe even Haiba, the two had continued on to V-League.

Overall, Yaku isn’t too frightened about playing on the world stage. In fact, he felt the adrenaline pump in his blood at the thought of it. He’ll do what he had always been doing; receive, cover, save the ball. Never let the ball drop on his side of the court, always keep the game in motion. He’s been connecting plays since middle school, all he had to do was perform his very best.

Kuroo watches from the audience, Kai sitting next to him. Inuoka, Fukunaga and Yamamoto sits a row in front of them. Lev watches from the other side of the stadium with his team, eyes focused on his old senpai. Kenma watches the match live from the comfort of his own home, alternately chatting with Fukunaga and Kuroo. Shibayama and Teshiro weren’t able to make time to watch, but they plan to catch up soon with the rest of the Nekoma alumni.

This time. It’s a time for promises. A promise to their coach, to their school. A promise to continue a legacy set forth by their predecessor. A philosophy passed down from generation to generation, connected by a shared passion.

They never stop connecting.

**Author's Note:**

> i cried after reading chapter 401 and i still am pspspspspsps for yaku and kai. may they not be dead and come back to watch olympics. 
> 
> thank you so much for reading my brainrot and please drop a kudos/comment if you enjoyed it! 
> 
> catch me on twitter @XeepZorg


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